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Tens of Thousands of Armenian Christians Cut Off by Military Blockade in Dire Straits

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Tens of thousands of Armenian Christians are languishing in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh, due to a military blockade that is cutting them off from the outside world.

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mostly Armenian enclave surrounded by the Muslim country of Azerbaijan. Since December 2022, Azerbaijan has blocked the Lachin Corridor, the only road connecting these Armenian Christians to the outside world.

According to the Philos Project, food and medicine have run out, miscarriages among pregnant women have tripled, and Azeri forces are kidnapping hospital patients during emergency medical evacuations.

Although Armenia may seem like a distant place, the Apostles Thaddeus and Bartholomew first took the Gospel to that nation, and Armenia became the first nation to formally embrace Christianity in 301 A.D. But its biblical connections go back even further. Mt. Ararat, where it’s believed Noah’s ark landed, is at the center of Armenian life.

CBN News spoke with Ambassador Sam Brownback from the Center for Religious Liberty, about the situation and what the U.S. and Christians should be doing. Brownback, the former Governor of Kansas and former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom confirmed that the situation is dire, and the U.S. needs to take action fast. Christians, he said, need to pray!

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About The Author

Julie Stahl
Julie
Stahl

Julie Stahl is a correspondent for CBN News in the Middle East. A Hebrew speaker, she has been covering news in Israel fulltime for more than 20 years. Julie’s life as a journalist has been intertwined with CBN – first as a graduate student in Journalism; then as a journalist with Middle East Television (METV) when it was owned by CBN from 1989-91; and now with the Middle East Bureau of CBN News in Jerusalem since 2009. As a correspondent for CBN News, Julie has covered Israel’s wars with Gaza, rocket attacks on Israeli communities, stories on the Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria and